I think a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, especially when it involves your health. In days of yore, the only readily available health information was from your family doctor. Today, there is a cesspool of health information easily accessible.
Information can be accurate or inaccurate. It can be appropriately or inappropriately applied. Good information taken out of context can be just as harmful as bad information.
The best source of information for health care information is your family doctor. Other reliable sources include websites from respectable organizations such as the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Poor sources of information that may not be accurate can include well meaning family and friends, disreputable web sites, as well as ads placed in newspapers or on television by lawyers. Information from these sources should either be ignored or viewed with a very jaundiced eye.
Medicine is increasingly complex and what might have been true in the past might not be true in the present. I will often see older patients who request a penicillin shot to cure their infection. This is what always worked when they were a kid I am told. Unfortunately, most bacteria have developed resistance to this antibiotic and unless they have strep throat or syphilis, penicillin isn't likely to get the job done.
One can find a web site to support any crackpot medical idea. They often quote so-called "professionals" with questionable credentials and have dubious testimonials. They usually attempt to dupe the reader into purchasing a cure-all snake oil product or self-help book.
Lawyer sponsored ads attempt to scare anybody that has been on a particular medication to call even if there are no past or current health problems related to that drug. They obviously have a tremendous financial interest in convincing you that had, are having, or might someday have a significant health problem from just being on a certain medication regardless of how briefly that it was used. It is interesting to note which T.V. shows tend to run these ads (Jerry Springer, et. al.).
Poor sources of information that are accurate can include the Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR), the pharmacy's handout that is provided with your prescription, the television, and newspaper health advice columns.
The PDR is a book that functions best as a c.y.a. vehicle for pharmaceutical companies. It does have useful information, but this is a needle amidst a haystack of useless information. Among other things, it lists every side effect ever reported by anyone taking the drug during the trial phases. This does not mean that the drug caused the side effect. Thus you might find insomnia listed as a side effect of sleeping pills and headache as a side effect of migraine medicines.
The pharmacy provides a written handout that consolidates the information from the P.D.R. and translates it into lay language for the patient. It is almost always from a software program purchased from a national vendor and is intended to be a c.y.a. vehicle for the pharmacist. It also contains useful information, but this is not distinguished from the useless information. A medicine might be listed as causing contradictory side effects like drowsiness and sleeplessness.
Unfortunately, the patients that are the most likely to obsessively read the handout and look up the drug in the P.D.R. are the same folks who are very suggestible. It is well known that medical and nursing students often become convinced that they have the various diseases that they are currently studying.
The television reports a sensationalized version of health care news. This news is often reported before the information can undergo a peer review process in which other doctors analyze the study and data to determine its relevance and validity. You will have heard the information as soon as or before your doctor has making it very difficult for him to know how that new information can best be applied to individual patients.
The syndicated columnist is attempting to diagnose patients by information that is presented to the writer. This is precarious at best since there is no exam, no review of tests, and no ability to ask for additional information. Because of these factors, the columnist offers several possibilities and then almost invariably advises the patient to see a specialist.
A plethora of sources are available for health care information with widely differing quality and pertinence. But there is no substitute for your family physician when it comes to receiving personalized, accurate, and useful health related information.
